There is something magical about a great bowl of Japanese ramen noodle soup. It’s absolutely wonderful. If you’ve never had good ramen go out and get some. Just do it. Today. Noodles. Broth. Pork. Egg. Wow. If the noodles are the backbone, the tonkotsu ramen broth is the heart and soul. This is the first step towards a good bowl of tonkotsu ramen This is a descent into madness. I’m making the tonkotsu ramen broth from scratch....

Warm corn bacon salad. It’s one of those recipes that almost aren’t worth posting. Nothing to it. Too easy to be taken seriously. But everyone raves. So here it is… Corn season – at least where I live – is short. Too short. Weeks really. At it’s peak, corn is a magical thing. Get it fresh from the side of the road and you can eat it raw. And it’s good raw....

Spaghetti all’amatriciana. Five ingredients. Fifteen minutes from fridge to table. One magical plate of pasta. Tangy cheese. Crispy cured pork bits. Spaghetti. Pork. Tomato. With a bit of crushed chili to liven things up. Diabolically simple. Unbelievably delicious. This one is a bit of a weeknight dinner miracle. The four pastas of Rome Amatriciana is one of the four great Roman pasta dishes. A group of seriously delicious dishes. You’ve probably heard of two of them....

Birria tacos are hands down the craziest tacos ever. Birria. Melted cheese. Fried tortillas. Onions. Cilantro. Lime. Amazing. And all that gets dipped in an unbelievably delicious sauce. That’s the consomé. It’s just diabolical. Think I’m overselling? I don’t. Birria tacos are a thing for a reason. A very good reason. Birria tacos start with birria de res con consomé I love all Mexican food. But I don’t think there’s anything that can quite touch a good birria de res....

Hotel style chicken tikka vindaloo. It had to happen. Every huge flavour I could come up with. Thrown together in one crazy tasty curry. Naga chicken tikka. Homemade vindaloo paste. And hotel gravy. Completely over the top. This one has it all going on. A little spicy. A little sour. Real depth of flavour. I know I’m hyping it up. But I’m not worried. This is serious business. Master class time....

Eggplant curry makes an awesome vegetarian main course or side dish for any Indian meal. Big flavours of onion, garlic, ginger and spice. And that lush restaurant style sauce. This is one seriously tasty vegetable curry. Baingan masala. Eggplant curry. Brinjal bhaji. Aubergine curry. It goes by many names. Doesn’t matter what you call it. It’s sure to satisfy. I worked hard coming up with this one. Took me forever. They make it at my local Indian restaurant....

Sometimes you need comfort food. Gnocchi with sausage tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella is pure, simple comfort food. Just warm and gooey and good. Kind of a ridiculous description but I can’t come up with a better one. Maybe I’m uninspired tonight but this dish is hit you over the head tasty comfort food. Tang from the tomatoes. Depth from the sausage. Melted cheese. Lots of melted cheese. Warm and gooey and good....

Nearly restaurant style chicken saag is as close as you can get to full blown restaurant cooking as you can get. Unless you go all in. It has the texture. It has the flavours. And it’s a bit healthier. Added bonus. Make every curry a great one I’m not being nice here. That’s true. I’m sorry. I really hope that doesn’t stop you from reading on. But seriously. Ask yourself – Is today the day I want to make bad fake Indian food?...

I love a good prime rib roast. You know – deeply brown and crispy on the outside. Perfectly cooked the whole way through. No sign of grey meat. That’s the dream. Reverse sear prime rib makes that dream a reality. It’s the exact same as reverse sear steaks but on a bigger scale. A grander scale. And this is how you do it. This is the Serious Eats prime rib recipe....

Roast turkey with chipotle gravy is a great twist on your holiday bird. It keeps the great traditional turkey flavour but kicks it up. Into seriously tasty territory. And it’s fast enough to make on a weeknight. Turkey Tuesdays. It could happen… I don’t understand why turkey doesn’t make it to the table more often. Chicken this. Chicken that. I love chicken but why not mix it up some? Turkey isn’t quite the blank canvas chicken is....

Simple dal. Really simple dal. Really tasty dal. Fresh. Bright. Satisfying. This one has everything going for it. Dead easy. Delicious. Cheap. That’s an amazing combo. Doesn’t happen often. So when I find it I stick with it. Get to know this one. Seriously. It’s a house favourite around here. Simple dal is about simple ingredients There really isn’t a lot to this recipe. Which is exactly why it works. A few great ingredients can be better than a lot of mediocre ingredients....

Chorizo potatoes. This is a riff on patatas bravas – one of the most famous tapas dishes of all time. It’s famous for a reason. It’s really good. But jack up the flavour with some chorizo. Drizzle it with some homemade aioli or garlic mayonnaise. That’s great. This is comfort food really. Potatoes. Sausage. Mayonnaise. How can you go wrong? Delicious. Familiar. But different. Special. There’s really only three things in this dish....

Lemon rosemary chicken with roasted potatoes. This is Italian comfort food. It’s easy enough to make during the week but good enough to share with friends. With foodie friends. It’s adapted from the lemon rosemary chicken in Michael Chiarello’s Tra Vigne Cookbook. I’ve cut back on the lemon and added a sprig of rosemary when roasting the chicken. I’ve also added a swirl of butter at the end to enrich the sauce....

Pan fried pork chops. The right chop, a hot pan, a few minutes in the oven and a quick pan gravy put a weeknight staple on the the table in 20 minutes or less. Pan fried pork chops sound great in theory. Season a piece of pork, toss it into a frying pan and bang – you are ready to eat. In practice they curl. They don’t brown properly. Part of the chop is perfectly done, the rest is bone dry....

Spinach and potato curry. Simple. Vegan. Spinach, potatoes and Indian spices. Delicious. It makes a great vegetable accompaniment to any Indian dinner. I love potatoes. More than rice even. I know. That’s odd. But it’s true. Don’t get me wrong. I like rice. But I love potatoes. So a spinach and potato curry does it for me. This is a simple take on it. Some spice. Some potatoes. Aromatics. And spinach....

Thai chicken salad. Think deconstructed fresh spring roll. Grilled chicken. Rice noodles. Fresh herbs. And the zing of lime. Perfect summer food. It’s not just for summer though. It’s great any time you want a refreshing noodle salad. Light. Bright. Vibrant. Make it any time you can get to your grill. I have a thing for rice noodles. Use them a lot. But one of my favourites is cool noodles with warm chicken....

Miserable day today. Cold, raining and windy. Like it was November already. Good day to grump around the house, really. Then I found beautiful swiss chard and leeks at the market. Instant inspiration. White bean swiss chard soup. This is an savoury soup, smoky from the bacon and earthy from the beans. Serve it with a bit of good bread and you have a meal in a bowl. A meal that warms from within....

Welcome to crazy tasty land. Indian hotel style Ceylon chicken curry. For when you feel the need for something that really slams your tastebuds with flavour. Think Sri Lankan spices. Green chilies. Curry leaves. Coconut. A whole lot of South Indian goodness going on here. This is restaurant style cooking. Not like your neighbourhood restaurant though. This is posh. High-end. What happens when Indian chefs go looking for a Michelin star....

Chicken chaat salad. If you are looking for an Indian inspired and absolutely delicious composed salad this is it. Big Indian flavours in a traditional main course salad. I’m pretty sure I will catch some flak for the title of this post. Chaat means savoury snack in India. Street food. It also almost always includes chaat masala. Anything masala means a spice mix of sorts. This isn’t really a savoury snack and it doesn’t include chaat masala....

Dal palak is a creamy lentil curry that adds spinach to make it something special. This is a great flavour combination you need to try. If you like spinach. And you like lentils. Then you are going to love this dish. It makes a great side dish to any Indian meal. It’s healthy. Vegan. Low fat. High fibre. Gluten free. Inexpensive. All the check boxes ticked. And somehow still delicious....